In the continuation of President Carlos Campo’s Ashland Rising 2020 Five Pillar Initiative, Ashland University and the Ashland Main Street group are hosting an “AU to Main Street” event to further connect the AU campus community and the city community.

AU’s 2020 strategic plan consists of five pillars. Pillars four and five are focused on community wellness and community engagement. These campaigns are intended to provide students and other members of the university to learn and immerse themselves more into city community while also focusing on their individual health and wellness.

On Oct. 21, Ashland’s downtown merchants and Ashland Mayor Glen Stewart are welcoming students to downtown Ashland.

“Getting a student or any new customer to come into your store will allow them to become familiar and find a reason to go back when there is a need,” Mayor Stewart said. “This is a great opportunity for the students and the store keepers.”

Dr. Deborah Sullivan was hired as the Director of Campus Wellness in the spring and she has begun streamlining events to not only help community engagement, but also promote wellness amongst the campus community and city community.

“With pillar four and pillar five I thought, what better way to connect the students with the downtown,” Sullivan said. “And the event will promote walking as well.”

The event will begin in front of the Rec Center where Tuffy will lead students on the half mile walk downtown.

Sullivan says she came up with the idea of walking downtown after visiting Eva’s Treats and learning from the owner that many students drive to the local frozen yogurt shop. 

Being accustomed to a small campus, many AU students assume the walk from campus to downtown is long, although on average, a person can walk a half of a mile in ten minutes.

Many students also assume that there is nothing to do in downtown Ashland.

Much to the contrary, there are over 25 different shops and restaurants less than a ten-minute walk from campus.

“We hope that this event motivates students to go downtown and see what is there and think about shopping in Ashland,” Sullivan said. “If they are looking for something to do, we encourage them to just look in their backyard.”

“AU to Main Street” is giving students the opportunity to visit five of the many downtown merchants and receive “stamps” on their “passports” for every shop they visit. Once a student receives five stamps, they will have opportunities to obtain gift cards they can use the next time they visit downtown.

“We really want to encourage students to not just run in each shop and grab a stamp, but to look around, talk to the merchants and then get a stamp,” Sullivan said. 

“AU to Main Street” stands as one of the many events the Wellness Campaign hopes to continue to host throughout the year and years to come.

In hopes to receive feedback for Wellness Campaign this semester, Dr. Sullivan and the members from the program will be sending out a survey regarding different campus programs and initiatives students’ desire.

The survey is based on the Wellness Campaign’s seven dimensions including, emotional, physical, social, environmental, occupational, spiritual and intellectual wellness. “AU to Main Street” is focused on the physical, emotional and social wellness dimensions. 

The event will take place between 4-6 p.m.